Have you ever had the experience of getting to know someone better after they had died? That’s happened to me a couple of times.

The first time was when someone I hardly knew suddenly passed away. He was a friend of a friend and I had only met him one time, but we seemed to have an immediate connection. The day after he died, I was daydreaming… doing some kind of chore in the kitchen when I sensed the presence of this new acquaintance. He was like hanging out with me, cross-legged on my kitchen counter, He had a warm and gentle presence, but powerful. He wanted me to tell our mutual friend that it wasn’t our friend’s fault. I asked him, “Why me? Why don’t you tell him yourself?” and he answered that our friend would not believe it was really him. He wanted me to tell our friend that it was okay… it wasn’t his fault. Of course I did the best I could to communicate that to my living friend.

My new deceased friend stayed connected to me for a while. He taught me a lot about continuing a connection and a friendship from the “other” side… and to even grow in love and understanding. He faded away from my conscious awareness after our mutual friend finally got his message about forgiving himself (or was it me?).

Losing a loved one… whether through death, divorce, estrangement…. is inevitable. We are going to be physically separated sooner or later. We are going to endure heartbreaking disconnects and estrangements. But we never lose our heart connections. And reconciliation and reunion are inevitable in the long run.

The best song I’ve ever heard about cherishing the love connection even beyond death is the theme from the movie “My Heart Will Go On” by James Horner. I had to rehearse that song about 50 times before I could sing it in public without crying… that’s how it touches my heart because it recognizes the truth – “My heart will go on and on…”

Yes, we can stay connected to loved ones by keeping our hearts open in expectation of the miracle. We can open our hearts wherever we are….

I had a mama… and when we laid her down to rest,
I went wandering around, looking for her, I guess.
Then I heard a whisper. She said, “Honey, whatcha looking for?
I’ve been here all along… knocking at your door. You can…

Open Your Heart… wherever you are.
Love’s the same though we have changed,
And we’re together though apart.
Open Your Heart.

I had a vision… where all my dreams had come true.
We were all for One and One for All with You.
Keep on believing… that the best is yet to come.
And walk hand in hand with a Heart that carries on.
You can…

Open Your Heart… wherever you are.
Love’s the same though we have changed,
And we’re together though apart.
Open Your Heart.

Now I’ll be leaving… I’m leaving friends and family,
The home I love, my whole life history.
But I’m not grieving… ‘cause I’ll never be far away
I’m connected to the hearts of the ones who’ve heard me say…
You can…

Open Your Heart… wherever you are.
Love’s the same though we have changed,
And we’re together though apart.
Open Your Heart… wherever you are.
Love’s the same though we have changed,
And we’re together though apart.
Open Your Heart!

What matters the most is… Can you turn off the chatter in your head long enough to give your total attention and focus to the present moment?

Because if you cannot do that, then you do not have control over your thoughts.

Uncontrolled thoughts are like static on a recording. Static detracts from the clarity of a recording. So does uncontrolled mind chatter detract from critical thinking and creative spontaneity.

We can improve our ability to control our thoughts by practicing. Athletes practice controlling their thoughts when they get “on their marks” in a race… or when they huddle up in a game.

We learn to focus our minds so that we give our best performance on the job or at our art or craft, or at our sport.

We can also learn to focus our minds in our daily spiritual practice, so that we can be quiet long enough to sense whether we are really on track or not. Our Higher Guidance is most often subtle. There must be quiet to hear the “still small voice.”

Keep your mind’s eye focused on being in your “right” mind, in the present moment…

July 3, 2011

There are animal rights activists. These are people who call attention to abuses to animals and who work to defend the rights of these often defenseless creatures. These people risk being ridiculed and sometimes risk their own necks in their work.

There are gay rights activists — people who call attention to injustices and abuses towards gays. These people also risk their jobs and sometimes their personal safety in this work.

There are political activists — people who call attention to corruption within our government and abuses of power. These people risk their jobs, their reputations, and personal safety to work towards changing political systems… in our communities, in our country and in the larger world.

I am a spiritual activist.

Let me define “spiritual” as that which pertains to the human spirit… that spark of energy that generates love. The human spirit is the manifestation of that spark, or power. It’s invisible, like electricity. The human spirit is invisible to our eyes, but discernible to our hearts.

My agenda is simple. Like animal rights activists who expose abuses to animals and like environmental activists who expose abuses to our environment, my agenda is to call attention to and expose spiritual abuse. My agenda is to raise awareness and reduce spiritual abuse in the world.

Spiritual abuse is anything which attempts to break the human spirit.

The human spirit is manifested by the more honorable qualities of a person’s character… qualities such as courage, the capacity to love and forgive, compassion, and generosity.

That which breaks the human spirit can usually be narrowed down to having originated from fear. Some of the forms that fear takes include malicious gossip, manipulative or controlling behavior, bullying, and betrayal of trust. These types of acts are, at some level, all attempts to break someone’s spirit… usually because a fearful person’s proprietary vision of reality has been threatened.

On the positive side, it is also on my agenda as a spiritual activist to call attention to examples of authentic soulfulness. Author Sarah Breathnach writes:

The authentic self is the Soul made visible.

The soul is pure love. In an authentic soul, there is no fear. And so the human characteristics of courage, compassion, generosity, and the capacity to love and forgive are manifestations of authentic soulfulness. I try to walk my talk on this. I tell my stories not to brag, but to share lessons I have learned on my own humble journey towards a more authentic and soulful life.

Like other activists who put their jobs, reputations, and personal safety at risk, I have sometimes encountered intense resistance to my work. That comes with the territory. An activist must be thick-skinned. I am not easily intimidated and I hold fast to staying connected to my Authentic Source.

Because of the risks involved, activism is not for everyone. Not everyone has the stomach for it. It’s sort of like a calling. If you are called to be an activist… whether it’s spiritual, animal rights, political, or whatever… you can’t not do the work.